Presentation by Germain Belzile, Senior Associate Researcher at the MEI, before members of the Conservative Caucus on the Canadian Economy in 2019.

Quebec has a record budget surplus.

Earlier this year, the Quebec government formed a committee whose stated goal was to propose a soda tax, for the purpose of reducing the prevalence of obesity. Yet there are numerous reasons to question the effectiveness of this measure. Indeed, when a tax modifies the price of a good, there is no guarantee that the replacement product will be better for one’s health than the taxed product.

Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.

November 21, 2018 | 12 min. 4 sec. | Région zéro 8 (Ici Radio-Canada) Interview (in French) with Mathieu Bédard, Economist at […]

Many politicians and interest groups advocate a rapid increase in the minimum wage in the name of social justice. Yet this ignores the results of past experiments. Ontario’s new Minister of Labour, Laurie Scott, pushed back by cancelling the increase to $15 planned for January 2019, and by stating that the minimum wage should be determined “by economics, not politics.” Subsequent increases will be set based on the annual change in the cost of living. This is a reasonable compromise, which will avoid further harming workers at the bottom of the ladder, and more specifically the young.

The announcement of the elimination of 2,500 jobs at Bombardier in Quebec.

How to deal with a possible recession?

The benefits of a tax cut for Canadian businesses and workers.

A useful and intuitive definition of “economic freedom” is the freedom (absence of coercion) to buy from, or sell to, a willing counterparty. A society based on economic freedom is a free-market society. But is economic freedom economically beneficial? Is it all about money? Is it moral? Aren’t there many exceptions where government intervention is warranted? This Economic Note addresses these questions.